Maverick Vinales: “We will get closer and closer”, “confidence level at maximum”

Maverick Vinales heads into this weekend’s British MotoGP as one of the ten different winners of the last ten premier-class Grands Prix at Silverstone.

The Spaniard took his victory back in 2016, for Suzuki, the first of ten MotoGP wins across three brands of bike.

Vinales also stood on the British podium in 2017 and 2019 for Yamaha, then 2022 and 2023 (Sprint) for Aprilia.

Last year he was a subdued 8th (Sprint) and 13th (Grand Prix) on the RS-GP but returns with growing confidence at Tech3 KTM, seizing three top-five finishes in the last four races, following a ‘penalised’ podium in Qatar.

"We are heading to Silverstone, a track that I have always enjoyed, so it will be interesting to see what we can do there with the KTM,” Vinales said. “Le Mans was crazy in many ways, but it was a very solid weekend for us on all plans, in qualifying, in sprint, race and in different track conditions!

“We are feeling better and better every race weekend, and the goal is to keep the momentum going, continue working hard all together as a team, and I am confident that we will get closer and closer to the top guys.

“Let's see how it goes this week in Silverstone. The weather is always tricky there, but I guess we had a bit of training last week in France!"

With the British Grand Prix moving to a much earlier date, rain is an even bigger risk than usual this weekend. 

However, Vinales can take comfort from his best flat to flag result of fifth last time at Le Mans.

“I want a sunny weekend, but I learned a lot about the bike in the wet at Le Mans, especially for the strategy on the engine brake and the power. I gave some comments to improve it. We just need a little more time,” he said.

“Confidence level at maximum”

“Races at [Silverstone] have [recently] been in August, so this year is a bit unusual, we will have to see how the conditions are,” added team manager Nicolas Goyon.

“Either way, Maverick Vinales will go there with his confidence level at maximum, as he continues to follow his impressive adaptation to our KTM bike, in addition to being happy with both bike and team.

“The French GP was his best weekend of the season with two top 5s, so we can for sure count on him to continue his progression this week.”

Despite his recent speed, Vinales is currently eleventh in the world championship, but only 6 points behind the top KTM of Pedro Acosta.